Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Peggy Joyce Ruth, aka "the Psalm 91 Lady" is author of a variety of Psalm 91 book titles with over six million copies in print. She taught a weekly Adult Bible Study for more than 35 years in her church in Central Texas as she shared how to make God’s Word your final authority. Known for her easy-to-understand style of communicating the Word of God and warm storytelling, Peggy Joyce's heart is that her books and teachings will bring you into the same freedom from fear she experienced and help you put God's Word to work in your life.
Okay, I call this Bible study now the first step toward going on with God. Now, you can search through the Old and the New Testament, and there's not an exception. The first step toward going on with God is repentance. But, in the world now, there are so many different kinds of repentance. So, I'm going to be talking, first of all, about the God kind of repentance that I call brokenness.
Speaker 1:And then, I'm going be talking about the two stages that one goes through to become restored and brought back to holiness. Okay, now, there is absolutely nothing that we can do in the physical to earn forgiveness. We can't earn the free gift of God's love. There's no way we can earn it. We don't have to pay penance.
Speaker 1:It's a gift. It's a gift from God. But, there is something now that has to take place in the solace realm before we can receive now the fullness of this gift of forgiveness. Now, I said there are two stages to total restoration. The first stage, which has to take place, is first of all a breaking.
Speaker 1:A brokenness has to come inside of a person. It would be impossible for us to teach on brokenness if we were just listening just intellectually. There's no way to understand this intellectually because there's no way for one person to explain to another person what they have to do to come into this brokenness. So, today, my prayer is for us to each hear this spiritually, to hear with our heart so that by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, we can understand how we can come in this place of brokenness, where we get to the place where God wants us to be. Now, there are three levels of repentance in the world.
Speaker 1:You can mark them down. Level one is what I call the self level. Now, we've probably all operated in this level at one time or we've It's being sorry for our wrongdoing simply because we got caught. I think we've all been there in one time or another. Sometimes, when we've gotten caught, we've even been sorry enough not to ever do it again.
Speaker 1:I've known men and women caught in adultery and even though they were just operating on level one repentance, a self level, they were still sorry enough they got caught. They never committed adultery again. Now, sometimes it was because of the embarrassment when it had to go public. For some, it was the inconvenience of having to contend with an angry husband or wife or maybe a husband or wife that got so hurt or maybe a possible divorce that they were having to face. One man in particular never committed adultery again when he got caught because he lost his job and he had to move.
Speaker 1:The consequences were just too much and he said, Oh, it just wasn't worth it. But it was a forced behavioral change. It's just the consequences to self now that initiates the change in Level one. Now, this Level one can also now include behavioral changes that are forced on someone by another person. Some people have repented and they've changed on Level one because they feared maybe being arrested or being imprisoned for something that they were doing.
Speaker 1:Now, you've known people who quit speeding because they couldn't afford to get another ticket on their insurance. One young man had a change of behavior and started being faithful to his wife because his brother beat him up so badly. And it threatened him, so he never misbehaved again. Now, many people never move out of the Level one repentance, and it can look okay to the world because they quit the wrongdoing. So, it looks good and the world applauds it.
Speaker 1:But, that's not the kind of repentance now that takes us on with God, even though it can look right to the world. The Level two repentance is what I call others level, but it's for a little bit nobler cause. Now, this level is when someone realizes that they've done something wrong and when they realize that they've honestly hurt someone else, then they're sincerely remorseful for it. They sincerely felt badly enough that they inflicted pain on an innocent party that they decided I don't want to go there again. And, again, we've probably all experienced that kind of repentance, too.
Speaker 1:We may have lost our temper, you know, maybe vented our anger out of frustration on someone that we love when they had absolutely nothing to do with it. And then later, we've been genuinely sorry and we've repented for hurting someone. Okay, that's the level two repentance. But the level three repentance is what I call the God level, and that's the one that I want us to zero in on today because this is the one now that will change our life. Now, I personally believe that few people have experienced the level three repentance.
Speaker 1:Now, this takes place in the soulish realm when your mind and your emotions become so sensitive. It's what takes place in the spirit man after you sinned. If you're born again, your spirit man is not operating on level one, the self level. In other words, your spirit man is not just worried about what's going to happen to you in the physical. Your spirit man is not just concerned about the personal consequences that it will bring.
Speaker 1:Your spirit man is not in level two either just concerned about the other party. On level three now, your spirit man is always God conscious, concerned about what takes place with God when you sin. Now, our soulish realm become God conscious when we sin, then we'll come into this Level three Repentance which is brokenness. And it's only in this kind of brokenness that we're going to find true healing. Okay, now actions may change on the other two levels, but only in Level three will there be a change of heart, a heart change, and that's what we're looking for.
Speaker 1:That's what God wants for us. Now, when this kind of brokenness comes, it will the way you think. It will change how you feel about things. It will actually affect every decision that you make. Now, this godly brokenness will change every part of the soulish realm.
Speaker 1:Now, our relationship with people will vary all the way from casual acquaintances to very close friendships, but there's no such thing as a casual acquaintance with God. To know God is to accept a radical change now in our whole way of thinking, our whole way of behaving. Now, so often we're saying, Yes, I know God, when we don't even have a good idea of what it's like to know God in the intimacy now that He's wanting us to come to and making the radical change in lifestyle and in our heart that will bring us on into this Level Three. Now, this Level Three is the God kind of repentance. Now, is true brokenness.
Speaker 1:Now, even the secular world recognizes this. Years ago, Jack took a course at FMC. They were explaining that a person's personality will fall into one of four categories. And they said your basic character traits now will not change categories unless you've had: number one, a brush with death or number two, a deep spiritual encounter with God. So even the secular world recognizes now a radical change is going to take place when a person's lifestyle is such that they they come into a meaningful experience with God.
Speaker 1:Now, most people know the definition of repentance. It's turning from doing our way 180 degrees and to begin doing things God's way. And I want to say that again because I really want you to hear this. The definition, God's definition of repentance, is when we turn from doing things our way and we turn 180 degrees and we begin doing things God's way. But now that definition could also be the definition for Level one and Level two repentance because it's possible for those two levels now to bring about a 180 degree change, too.
Speaker 1:But both of those levels now, one and two, are accomplished by the arm of flesh. The radical change in a person's heart, the Level three now, it is never going to come by the arm of flesh. It won't be something that we do by the arm of flesh. It's something that we do by the power of God, and it can never come by sheer willpower. The radical change from level three, Rentependence, now, evolves out of a relationship with God.
Speaker 1:If you want to come into repentance, that's where you have to start your relationship with God out of a brokenness because we realize we've sinned against God. We've sinned against our Father. Now, when we come into this, our whole perception of God will change. The God who seemed so far away will now become so close, so intimate and the God who seemed so impersonal will become the most loving person you've ever known. Now, when we can begin to relate to that, not just like creature to a Creator, but as a child to a loving Heavenly Father.
Speaker 1:That's how He wants us to see Him. He's our loving Heavenly Father and He wants us to come to Him as a child who is so in love with the Father. Not as a slave to master, but a friend to friend. Now, suddenly, when we come to that, our concept of God will completely change. Now, this deeper dimension in the realm of forgiveness doesn't just move things over in our life.
Speaker 1:It heals, and it actually makes us brand new. Only with God can we become a new creation. Now, I want to give you some examples out of the Word. Sometimes, when we see an example out of the Word in another person's life, it makes it a little bit easier to hear what God's trying to say to us. In Brahmin, Germany, there was a highway that winds around this huge, steep granite mountain, and someone chiseled a giant figure Christ on the cross on that granite mountain.
Speaker 1:And it didn't matter which way you were motoring. You can't miss it. And as if the figure didn't say enough in itself, sculpture also chiseled out a message beneath that said, Sinner, behold thy work. In other words, the work of sin is Christ on the cross. That's what it brought.
Speaker 1:It came from the sin of man. The results of our sin is Christ crucified. Now, we have to finally come to a place where we see that all these little things that we put up within our life are the very things now that separated us from God and put Christ on the cross. So, we need to see these things as sins against God Himself. Now, King David saw that.
Speaker 1:He was a prime example. I recently used David as an example that when he committed adultery, he saw it as a sin against God. And instantly, he fell on his face and repented. And he said, Lord, it's against thee and thee only that I've sent. Now, obviously, he had sinned against Uriah to take his wife and then have him killed.
Speaker 1:Obviously, it was a sin against Bathsheba. He took her husband away from her and caused her to commit adultery. And his sin was against his own children. His sin was also against God's people because he was their king and he had done something that was very degrading to his people. His sin was against the other nations because the Bible tells us that he caused them to blaspheme God.
Speaker 1:And yet he says, Lord, it's against thee and thee only that I've sinned. Now, the reason that David broke and truly repented is because he was devastated over what he had done to God. Not so much to all these others, but mostly to God. He realized that no matter who else he might have sinned against, that was nothing in comparison to the fact now that he had sinned against his Heavenly Father. Okay, how many times when we sin do we fall on our face because of what we've done to God?
Speaker 1:And he said to God, It's not a sacrifice that you wanted because of my sin. He said, If you'd wanted a sacrifice, that would have been easy. I could have done that. But he said the sacrifice that you want is for my heart to break in repentance. Now, what God requires before we can receive His forgiveness and His restoration is a broken and a contrite heart.
Speaker 1:It tells us that over and over in the Word. When our soul is crushed and broken because of the grief that we've brought to God, when the consequences to our self just seems nothing in comparison to the hurt that we feel over the grief that we've brought to our Heavenly Father. And, when that happens, then all of a sudden, we don't want to sin. We want that sin out of our life. Now, some of you have experienced what I'm trying to describe but if you haven't ever experienced this brokenness, then pray for God to touch your heart and open you to the sin in your life because this is a necessary step in our spiritual growth.
Speaker 1:Every Christian has to come to this step. Now, in Lloyd Douglas' great novel, The Robe, some of you have read the novel. Most of you have at least watched the movie. But, the Apostle Peter meets with Marcellus, and Marcellus is haunted by the deep grief because of his part in Christ's crucifixion when he realized that he was the one that had done that. Peter then tried to comfort him by telling him of his own wrongs.
Speaker 1:And he said, Marcellus, you don't understand the love of Jesus. He's willing to forgive. And then, all of a sudden, he said, Why would Jesus forgive me after I denied Him? Marcellus said. And then, in the most electrifying moment is when Marcellus speaks, and his voice is barely audible.
Speaker 1:And, he says, 'But I crucified Him.' Peter, don't you realize and don't you understand I'm the one who put Him on the cross? Every one of us need to come to that, just exactly like Marcellus did, and realize, yes, we are the ones that put Him on the cross. These things in our life that we're tolerating, the things that we're justifying, the things that we're putting up with, it's so important for us to see that these are sins against God. And, with Marcella, say, But I crucified Him. Okay, it's these things in my life that I tolerated that actually crucified the Lord.
Speaker 1:Now, we don't have to wait until we've committed some sin to allow that brokenness now to bring us to restoration. That's the purpose of this Bible study, to understand now the true brokenness that will keep us from sinning. Once we come into that, we can come to a place where we quit sinning, where we want to please God so much that we seek His face before we do anything. Now, in Genesis 39, it gives us the story of Joseph while he's a slave in Potiphar's house. And, you know the story of how Potiphar's wife, in Genesis 30 nine:seven, she looked with desire on Joseph, and she was really pulling on him to commit adultery with her.
Speaker 1:But, he refused, and he said, Potiphar has withheld nothing from me except you, and that's because you're his wife, and I can't sin against that. Now, if we stopped right there, we might think that he refused to sin out of maybe a young, tender conscience or maybe because of some rule instilled in him during his growing up years. But, Joseph didn't stop there. He went on to say, How could I do this great evil and sin against God? Okay, now, there's the truth again.
Speaker 1:Suddenly, we see that the reason Joseph was able to refuse was because he saw that it was not just a sin against his own body. That would not just be a sin just out of failing to do it because of the fear of consequences. Not just because it was a sin against Potiphar, but he saw it as a sin against God. And, if we're not doing something wrong because we don't want to hurt our husband or our wife or our mother or father or whatever if that's our only reason, then it's not going to last forever. But, when we come to the place of realizing this is a sin against God, then we're not going want to sin.
Speaker 1:We're going to say, Lord, I want to do anything that would be displeasing to You. Now, as I thought through all of the great men of the Word, I realized that each one of them, at some point, had come to the place now where they realized that their sin was a personal affront against God Himself. And that's where we each have to come to. We've got to come to the place where we're not just thinking, Okay, I sinned against my parents or I sinned against my mate. No, it's I sinned against God.
Speaker 1:Joseph was able to judge the action and stop the sin before it happened because he saw it as a sin against God, and that kept him from sinning. And, when we see our sins as a sin against God, we'll stop them. The only way we'll be able to judge sin, to stop it in our own life without having to go through the mental torment and agony of temptation, is when we begin to see these things that are inconsistent with the Word as a sin against God. And, I know that I've said this over and over, but it finally has to come to the place where that's what goes through our mind every time we're tempted. That's when it will become easy to move into the area of just saying no like Joseph did.
Speaker 1:Now, we had a Sunday school teacher during our teenage years, and she spent a great deal of time teaching us about dating. We'd go on Sunday morning and week after week she taught on this. And she said, I can't ever teach you anything that's going to be more valuable to you in your dating life than to impress on you the fact that Jesus is in the car with you everywhere you go. She said, It doesn't matter where you go. It doesn't matter what you're tempted to do, no matter how much peer pressure is involved.
Speaker 1:She said, If you'll constantly remind yourself that God is literally right there with you, and then start thanking Him for continually being with you. She said it'll change your entire life. She said once it becomes a reality to you that God is there, every moment of your day, it will become easy to just simply say no. It'll be easy to say no to going to the wrong or falling for wrong temptations because you'll realize it's a sin against God. That's what God's wanting us to come to.
Speaker 1:She said, Not only will it become real that you don't want to sin against the Lord, who's sitting right there next to you, but it will also become real that He's there to give you the help and the strength to say no. God's not telling us I want you to say no to these temptations. He's saying I'll be right there with you and I'll give you all the help and all the strength you need if you'll just trust me. Now, I've never forgotten the teaching from that teacher. She was dynamic.
Speaker 1:Now, we said that on a search through the Old and New Testament, there's not an exception. The first step toward going with God is always repentance. Okay, now what takes place with God when we sin? When our soul is real, our mind, our emotions become God conscious when we sin, then we'll come into Level three Repentance, which is brokenness. Now, the Bible says that what has to take place is for there to be a heart change and that heart change is brokenness.
Speaker 1:A broken and a contrite heart, God calls it. Now, either of the other two levels of repentance may bring a change of behavior. It may do that. But, Level one repentance is accomplished just by sheer willpower and it never results in a change of heart. It's just we change our actions.
Speaker 1:And Level two repentance will seldom, if ever, result in a real change of heart because it, too, is just accomplished by willpower. We'll find that the arm of flesh, our willpower, doesn't change the heart. It just changes the actions. And only on Level three repentance will there always be a brokenness, a change on the inside that points us toward God every time. Now, when this brokenness comes, everything in your life is going to be affected.
Speaker 1:You know, sometimes we don't realize that we can make one decision, some simple little decision like this, and it'll change everything in our entire life. Everything you think, feel or do will be different. The radical change from level three repentance evolves out of a relationship with God. That's where he's trying to bring each one of us. And it comes after we've gotten close enough to God to realize that our sin is against Him.
Speaker 1:That's the key when we come to realize that. That's the common denominator in every repentance. When the person has a heart change, they realize that their sin is a sin against God. Now, the best part of seeing our sin as a sin against God is that when that becomes a reality, it can literally keep us from sinning like it did in Joseph's life. It's a preventive measure.
Speaker 1:It's exactly what it is. Now, we're going to look at three more Biblical examples of the necessity of seeing our sin as a sin against God. And then we'll look at the second phase of restoration. Okay, Acts eight:one-three. This is the story of Saul on the road to Damascus.
Speaker 1:Now, his name is later changed to Paul the Apostle, but this is before he had his conversion experience. Now, this is the record of how he encountered his own personal brokenness that took him to a personal one on one relationship with God where he recognized his sin. Now, you can't repent if you think you're right. We have to be open to have God show us the truth. And, there's so many people, they think they're right.
Speaker 1:They've got it locked down. They've convinced themselves that they're right and they'll never repent as long as that's where they are. Now, obviously, Paul had been persecuting the Christians. He'd been persecuting men and women. And yet, Jesus very plainly states that the sin was against Him personally against Jesus personally.
Speaker 1:Only after we realize that our sin, no matter how many others, might be involved, when we realize that our sins are against God Himself personally, only then will we come to a place of brokenness. Now, I'm going give you an example in the natural. When Jack and I were first married, there was something that I would say carelessly. It wasn't anything that anyone would have considered a sin. I didn't think that much about it.
Speaker 1:And Jack called my attention to it, and so I thought, Well, that's strange. But, anyway, I tried to watch myself, but it really wasn't a big deal to me. One day, we were having a heart to heart talk, and Jack shared with me his interpretation of my attitude. He had seen it as a personal affront against him, a personal put down to him. And I was shocked when I heard that because that was the last thing I meant.
Speaker 1:But, suddenly, when I realized that he saw it as a sin against himself, suddenly, that attitude that had caused me little or no thought literally became very big, and I took it in a whole new light. And when I came face to face now with the fact that Jack had seen it as a put down to him, when that happened, then for the first time, I grieved over it and I wanted to change with all my heart. Now, even though this is an example in the natural, I'm wanting us now to see that this is a spiritual truth. This is the same thing. For the first time, I came to a place where I literally grieved and my heart was broken and this is the time when I repented and I changed.
Speaker 1:Okay, now I share that as an example because I'm saying we're never going to really change until we come face to face with the fact that we have grieved the father. When I realized I'd grieved Jack, I wanted to stop. But that's where we have to come if we really want to get sin out of our lives. We have to come to a place where we realize we've grieved the Father. Too often, we think he's far away and just not interested in all we're doing.
Speaker 1:But, we need to see that every single time that we have an attitude or an action that doesn't line up with the Word of God or an action that hurts someone, that it's grievous to the Father. In Acts chapter nine, when Paul finally saw his persecuting the Christians as a sin against God, I'm sure he was devastated. Verse nine tells us that he was without sight and he neither ate nor drank for three days. Now, I would imagine that during those three days, his entire adult life had probably passed before his mind. I'm sure he remembered Stephen as he stood there and watched him being stoned.
Speaker 1:And the one on one communication that he had observed Stephen had such a walk with God. And he's dying, but you could tell he was so in love with the father. I'm sure he remembered his hearty agreement for Stephen's death and Stephen's prayer when he cried out, Lord, don't hold this to their account. Stephen wasn't even worried about being killed. He was worried about what it was doing to the people who were killing him.
Speaker 1:And, I'm sure he remembered all the men and women that he had dragged off to prison while they were pleading for mercy. But, I believe the straw that broke the camel's back turned the whole thing around. The thing that finally caused Paul to break was the memory of hearing the voice of Christ saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Paul broke and the repentance came and the proof was in his changed life. There was a radical change in his lifestyle and he spent the rest of his days leading people to Jesus.
Speaker 1:Okay, now let me give you just an example. There's a difference between seeing doubt in my life and getting upset because I'm neglecting the promise that is holding me back. There's a difference between that and seeing doubt in my life upset because I realize that that doubt is a slap in God's face. We're not going to quit our sin. We may quit it for a little while, but we're not going to quit it completely until we finally come to realize every sin that we sin is a slap in God's face.
Speaker 1:We're coming against God. And, when we see the difference, then it's going to make all the difference. Now, it's all in our attitude toward God when we're dealing with something that's not right in our life. Have you ever wondered why Sampson continued to sin over and over with the same sin sexual impurity with foreign women? Okay, I want you just to think with me for just a moment.
Speaker 1:Sampson's strength was in his long hair because his faith was founded on the fact that his hair had never been cut. His faith was not necessarily in God. We never really see him being sorry for anything he's done to God. So, even though the law told him that what he was doing was wrong, he never really became broken over his affairs with women because he never saw it as a sin against God. And, we're not going to quit our sin until we finally see it as a sin against God.
Speaker 1:He had his own law. His law was Thou shalt not cut thy hair, lest thy strength flee. And that's what kept him going as much in the direction as he went. And that's where his faith was. If his relationship with God had been what it needed to be, there would have been something inside of him that would have known that he was committing a sin against God and it would have stopped.
Speaker 1:So ask yourself, have I ever seen my shortcomings as a sin against God? Have I ever come to a brokenness over the sin in my life? Have I ever realized that I've grieved the Holy Spirit? These are questions we need to ask ourselves. Ephesians four thirty tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit who has sealed us for redemption.
Speaker 1:There's many ways in which we can grieve the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians four twenty nine, it talks about unwholesome words or when we have attitudes that contradict the Word of God. We are grieving the Holy Spirit. Now, sin is a serious business but we'll never see it as serious until we come face to face with the reality I've hurt God. I've hurt my Heavenly Father.
Speaker 1:And, I've grieved my precious Comforter. And then, when we come to that, we'll start coming to that wanting to be cleansed. But, if you simply quit your sin by sheer willpower instead of a brokenness before God, there's really not a heart change and that lust will simply manifest in another area because the sin is still active. It may change masks. It may change faces, but it's still going to be destructive and it'll manifest someplace else because something has to break in our heart before it's gone.
Speaker 1:Now, in Isaiah 60 one:one, the Lord kept taking me to different scriptures to illustrate this same truth and I was shocked. He would just take me from one scripture to the other. Now, read this scripture so many times but I had never really picked up on what it was actually saying. Now, this is a prophecy foretelling about the Messiah hundreds of years before He came. And, we read in Luke that it was referring to Jesus, so we know that's who it was referring to.
Speaker 1:And, in Isaiah 60 one:one, it says He came to heal the brokenhearted. Well, I've read that over and over so many times, and I realize, yes, He came to heal the brokenhearted. But, suddenly, the Lord opened my eyes and I realized He was only sent to heal those who were brokenhearted over their sin. So many times, we're in sin and we say, Oh, Lord, I'm sorry. But, if we'll go back and see this scripture in Isaiah 61, He came to heal those who are brokenhearted over their sin.
Speaker 1:He came to heal the brokenhearted. We need to mark that and meditate on it. We have to become broken hearted before God before we'll be in a position to actually receive healing and true repentance. Okay, so this is a key scripture in Isaiah 60 one:one. So, mark it in your Bible.
Speaker 1:There'll come a time you're going to need it. Okay, now let me give you another important key. The only thing that will cure the tendency to look back longingly to our past sins and want to go back is brokenness before God. There's so many people and they repent before God and they leave a certain sin but, in the back of their mind, they're thinking, Oh, that was so much fun. You know, I want to go with God.
Speaker 1:I'm not going back there. But, I remember I had good times back there. Some people can't move on with God because they can't completely break ties with some areas of sin from the world. They're still kind of hanging on, even though they've quit the action. That means that their heart has never truly broken.
Speaker 1:God wants His people to come to a brokenness. Once we come into a brokenness, we'll never go back to that particular sin. True brokenness automatically breaks the tie with the sin. Now, after we see our sin as a sin against God and we break, we'll have no interest in any area in this world where God can't be a part of it. There'll be no real interest in anything that He can't share with us, And that's what He desires for us.
Speaker 1:That's what He's trying to bring us to absolute fellowship with nothing hindering it. Now, I never cease to be amazed at the number of times that God tries to warn us, tries to give us a chance to judge a particular sin in our life and change and break before a disaster strikes. Because, for the Christian, before we ever get into deep trouble with a sin, God has been trying to get us there. He's been trying to work on our heart and pull us in a certain direction. You see, sin will bring on disaster and calamity eventually and God tries to spare us because He doesn't want us to go through the hurt.
Speaker 1:Now, some people will break over the sin in their life more quickly than others. Some people are quick to sincerely repent. But, the longer it takes, the more pain the devil inflicts. And, when I'm talking about change, I'm not just talking now about what the world calls the biggie sins, you know. Some people might be sitting here listening to this and think Well, I'm not committing adultery.
Speaker 1:I haven't murdered anyone, so this really doesn't apply to me. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about even the little attitudes in our heart that aren't right. I'm talking about even our refusal to accept all of the truths out of God's Word. I'm talking about worry and anxiety and fears.
Speaker 1:These are all sins in God's eyes. And God tries to get us to see these attitudes and these inconsistencies as sin because He knows they're going to bring destruction to us and He's trying to clean us up. And the reason He warns so often is because He's trying to get us to hear before the enemy destroys. Now, I'm going to give you a prime example of how God dealt with a certain person over and over trying to get him to change and it's in Daniel chapter two. It's amazing how much God worked with Nebuchadnezzar.
Speaker 1:He was the king of Babylon and he's a prime example of how God's love and God's mercy endures forever. He was the king when Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego were in exile in Babylon. Now, Nebuchadnezzar had had a dream and he called in all of his magicians. And, of course, Daniel was one of the magicians. And not only did he command them to give the interpretation of the dream, but also they were to tell him what the dream was.
Speaker 1:And so in Daniel two ten-eleven, you can see his magicians were very upset over this request and they were saying, King, you're being totally unreasonable. But the king was so troubled by the dream that Daniel goes to the king. He had prayed for twenty one days to get the answer from God. And then he goes to the king and not only does he tell him what he dreamed but also he gives him the interpretation of the dream. And King Nebuchadnezzar then falls on his face and he did homage to Daniel.
Speaker 1:And he said Surely your God is the God of gods. He's the Lord of lords. So he makes this confession. Your God is the God of gods, the Lord of lords. And then he promoted Daniel.
Speaker 1:He made him ruler over the providence of Babylon. He even appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the administration. But we find that even though he says all the right things, he quickly forgets the great Jehovah God. It's hard for us to understand because he wanted the answer so badly and here God gave him the answer. He knew it came from God and yet he quickly forgets.
Speaker 1:He just goes then right back to his worship of idols. And, you know, I would have thought that God would have said, Well, let's just forget you. You've gone too far. But, God's mercy continued with him. He even makes an image of gold and he commands everyone in the kingdom to bow down and worship it.
Speaker 1:And, you think, well, how did he do that after he's just seen God move so mightily in his life? And, you know the story of how Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. They refused to worship the false god, and they're thrown into the fiery furnace. You remember how the king then came in and he saw four men in the furnace instead of three, walking about in the flames, and they were unharmed. And he says that the fourth one looked like a god.
Speaker 1:Then, in chapter three, verse 26: Now, he's seen the power of God. There's absolutely no question in his mind. He's seen that if they walked through the fire, they weren't harmed. He saw God's power when Daniel gave the dream, when no one else could give him the answer. So, he's definitely seen the power of God when God saved Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego in the flames.
Speaker 1:And, both times, he recognizes God. He even says with his mouth that the Jehovah God is the Most High God. And he sees the miracle. He even believes in the miracles. And he even knows that God did those things and he did it for his sake.
Speaker 1:We read that and we think, My, my, Nebuchadnezzar, you saw these things from God, but he never really repents. Repentance is the key. He never really repents, even though he says all the right things. He never repents of all his old ways, even though God has warned him over and over and shown him miracle after miracle. But, he's never sorry.
Speaker 1:He goes right back to the old sin. And, God is so loving and so patient and kind that He gives him another dream. He's trying to get Nebuchadnezzar to judge himself. And this time in the dream, he saw a tree. It was large and strong and it was reaching clear to the sky, visible to the ends of the earth.
Speaker 1:And the birds and the beasts, they were dwelling in the shade of that big tree. But, finally, the tree gets chopped down, and the birds and the beasts, they flee away. However, the stump of the tree is left, and it has dew on it for seven years. That was quite a dream. And, the interpretation is that Nebuchadnezzar would be away from mankind and live with the beasts of the field until he recognized the Most High God.
Speaker 1:And then, his kingdom would be restored after seven years. Now, Daniel was basically suggesting Why not turn now? Why don't you come to God now? Why go through all that? So, he was trying to get Nebuchadnezzar's attention.
Speaker 1:But Nebuchadnezzar goes right on in his folly and he pays no attention. He never saw that what he was doing was sin. And I thought, you know, how many times does God go over and over and over with us things through the Word and the mouth of others? Too many times, we do just like Nebuchadnezzar. Maybe we repent for a little while and then we go right back to doing the same thing.
Speaker 1:And, God is so patient. You know, it's amazing to me how patient He can be. But, there comes a time when God says, It is enough. And, in Daniel four twenty nine-thirty seven, God had given him twelve months to change. And, I'm sure during those twelve months, Nebuchadnezzar probably thought, you know, Daniel missed it.
Speaker 1:Six whole months have already gone by. Nothing has happened. He had said all of these the right things and he may have fooled himself into thinking that he was okay. Now, I think that's what we do so many times. We talk a good game and sometimes we convince ourselves when we haven't made the change we need to make.
Speaker 1:And sometimes we fool ourselves with even our own works. And so, verse 28, all of this happened to Nebuchadnezzar and twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace, it said. And it says that he was reflecting and he said, Is this not Babylon the great that I built? So, he's looking at everything and he's still patting himself on the back. And while those words were in the king's mouth, a voice from heaven said, Sovereignty has been removed from you, and you will be driven from all mankind, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field, and you will eat grass like cattle.
Speaker 1:And seven periods of time will pass until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over all mankind. God is so patient with him. Finally, it took all those years and then it took seven years before Nebuchadnezzar finally broke and repented and he was restored. But how sad that it took seven years of mental insanity from the enemy. If he had judged his own sin, if he had repented in brokenness, as David did, he could have been restored in an instant of time, just exactly like David was.
Speaker 1:If you remember when Nathan the prophet came to David, he immediately fell on his face and he said, Against thee and thee only, I've sinned. And instantly he was restored. So we have these two examples. We have Nebuchadnezzar who continued to refuse to listen to God and it took him seven years. And then we have David and we instantly then see where David was restored instantly.
Speaker 1:God wasn't playing favorites. We set our own timetable so many times. Now, it can take as long or as short a time as we decide. Brokenness can come instantly through a decision in our soulish realm to judge ourselves and see the sin as a sin against God. Or it can take seven years of eating grass with the pigs, whichever we want to choose.
Speaker 1:Because if we don't judge ourselves, judgment's going to come and it's going to come the hard way. But God never intended it to have to come that way. God tries to make it as easy for us as He can. Okay, now the first phase of going on with God is entering into brokenness. And the second stage is just as important.
Speaker 1:You know, a lot of times we realize, Yes, I've got to come into brokenness. I've got to repent. And we do that. But there's a second stage and we must not forget the second stage. Once a person enters into brokenness, the second stage is then to receive the forgiveness, receive the restoration.
Speaker 1:So many people call it realization and reception. Realization is phase one. Reception is phase two. The realization is realizing that we have sinned and we are guilty. Then the reception is then repenting and then receiving what Christ offers, which is total forgiveness.
Speaker 1:I've dealt with a lot of people who come to the realization of their sin and they break and they're so sorry but they stay broken. They've never entered into the second stage to go ahead and receive the forgiveness and get healed. Now, Jesus said that He came to heal the brokenhearted. It doesn't say that He just came to get the brokenhearted. Yes, He brings them to the place of repentance, but He says but then I heal them.
Speaker 1:I bring them on into healing. One has to become broken hearted and then that one has to receive the healing or the operation is not complete. Now, brokenness but the second stage is receiving what God has offered. And, when we finally admit that we've made a mess out of our life, when we come to the place where we say, God, I don't deserve anything You do for me but, Lord, You've given me a promise and I'm going to receive it. And then what God does when we come to that kind of brokenness, He cleans us up.
Speaker 1:Doctor. Kevin Lehman, he's author of Family Life Counselor. He said, If your child spills milk, they don't need to be thrashed and berated. They simply need to be given a rag to clean it up. When we make mistakes, thank God our Heavenly Father doesn't thrash and berate us.
Speaker 1:He applies the blood. He hands us the blood of His own Son and, with that, we can clean it up and it can wipe away all of our sins instantly if we break and repent, if we receive one John one:nine. But we have to receive that. The same is true with sin. If we come to this true repentance quickly, sin doesn't have been a chance to become entrenched in our life.
Speaker 1:And He's willing to forgive us like He did David instantly. And it's much easier to repent the moment we see the sin. Back in Psalm 50 one:seven, David knew brokenness but he also knew how to receive the forgiveness and the healing. And in verse seven, David said, Purify me, and I'll be clean wash me, and I'll be whiter than snow. The minute he sinned, the minute he repented, he knew that all he had to do was repent.
Speaker 1:All he had to do was let God cleanse him and it would make him white as snow. He knew that the full cycle of repentance would cause him to become whiter than snow. Now, some of you may have come to brokenness but you've never believed that you could become whiter than snow. I've dealt with so many people who have come to brokenness and they've been truly sorry, but they couldn't forgive themselves enough to go ahead and take the next step. It's the full cycle of forgiveness that makes us white as snow.
Speaker 1:Now, one more comparison that demonstrates the need for the full restoration was Judas. He recognized his wrongdoing. He probably did come to brokenness, but instead of receiving forgiveness, he went on and hanged himself. So, that is a perfect story to let us know that we can be sorry for what we've done but if we don't go in and receive the fullness of God's forgiveness, it doesn't do us any good just to be sorry for our sin. Luke twenty-two 60 one-sixty two Jesus looked at Peter and a cock crowed and he went out and wept bitterly.
Speaker 1:What Peter did was probably as bad as what Judas did, but Peter went into the second phase. He didn't stop like Judas did. He didn't stop short and he went on to become one of the greatest leaders in the early church. So, thank God, after we saw what happened to Judas, thank God He gives us the picture then in Peter so that we know we don't have to do what Judas did. He hanged himself.
Speaker 1:We would have thought that would have been enough, but it wasn't. We see here that Peter went on and he came back to the Lord received the forgiveness. Now, this was when Peter experienced brokenness, but he didn't go back and hang himself. He's one of the first ones to arrive at the tomb on resurrection morning, and because he runs to God, the restoration comes. There's a lot to be learned from these seven men that we've described.
Speaker 1:You can never understand brokenness with your intellect, but God will allow you to understand it with your spirit if you're at a place where you choose to appropriate into your life, you're going to find out that He will absolutely bring it to pass. Father, I thank you that it doesn't matter how bad our sin might be. That it doesn't matter. It can be the most horrible sin in the world. But, if we ever come to the place where we realize that Jesus has borne it all for us, and when we repent and fall on our face and accept what Christ did for us, we can be washed whiter than snow.
Speaker 1:David understood that, and he's a prime example. There are others in the Word who understood it and reached out and received what you did, Lord. But, Father, help us to come to that place where we don't feel so guilty that we think we deserve to stay in the guilt. So many people do that. But, Father, we don't want to feel so guilty that we stay in the guilt.
Speaker 1:We want to be so happy over what you did for us, what Jesus did for us, that we fall on our face and we repent and receive the forgiveness that Christ paid such a huge price to buy for us. Lord, we love you and we praise you. We thank you for the promises in your word. We thank you that you never leave us. You never forsake us.
Speaker 1:No matter how bad we've been, you're ready to take us back the moment we repent. You even waited for Nebuchadnezzar many years until he came to that place, but finally he did. Thank you, Father. In Jesus' name, Amen.